Page 10 of Sterling Fight

Or rather, didn’t happen.

How he stood me up when I was sixteen and how I still sound pitiful at thirty-nine. Then again, I don’t need Judd’s pity. I feel sorry for him. He just broke up with someone and why would I make a joke about a date?

The awkwardness grows thicker than a layer of frosting on the Curmudgeon Bakery’s cupcakes, and the time to excuse myself and take what’s left of my pride with me elsewhere has come.

“See you around, Judd,” I mutter.

But hopefully not.

My fragile ego wouldn’t be able to handle it.

4

[Judd]

“Well, that was messy,” Sebastian states, finally approaching me and I wonder for a moment if he means Heather or Genie.

As I watch Genie Webster exit the bakery, her question about finding her a date rattles through my brain. I’m well aware that years ago I stood her up.

My chest aches when I consider a young girl waiting on my arrival, dressed in a prom dress she excitedly told me the color of and then refused additional details, telling me I’d have to wait and see her in said dress to learn more.

I never learned more. I had my reasons. And while those reasons haunt me, one of my biggest regrets is hurting Genie.

Currently glancing down at myself, I’m further embarrassed by my appearance. I lift my arms to my sides and shake them once as if that will make any difference in the stench coming off me or the wetness that is seeping into my skin.

My younger brother stands beside me with a mop and a bucket. “I was trying to give you a minute, but I really gotta get this cleaned up.”

Pushing back my chair, I see the drips of macchiato that haven’t been absorbed by my shirt, jeans, or skin. Liquid had puddled between my legs on the seat of the chair. Melting ice drips down to the tile floor.

“Are you okay?” he asks, his typically rough voice softening.

“I will be.” Maybe I should be more distraught over my breakup with Heather, but as I’m the one calling it quits, I’m not. I can already hear the tale Heather will spin to her friends and family. I’m the asshole. She broke up with me.

Let people believe what they want. I typically don’t care about anyone’s opinion other than my family’s, and even with them, I try to keep my distance. It’s a strange dichotomy as I work with a few of my siblings.

I prefer being alone. Sadly, I’m used to it, but I’m also tired of being lonely, which was one reason Heather appealed to me. But sometimes, even being in the presence of another, one can feel invisible. In my case, I often try to make myself disappear.

My two oldest brothers have tried very hard not to allow my non-existence to happen.

With gradual return to Sterling Falls of the remainder of my brothers, all younger than me, I’ve been slowly coming out of my shell. A snail’s shell, which means it’s been a languid unfurling.

“Who was that woman speaking to you?” Sebastian arches a brow before he begins mopping around my feet.

“Genie Webster.”

Sebastian doesn’t shift from his sweeping motions, his non-response evidence he doesn’t remember her. Genie would have been roughly between Knox and Ford back in school. Sebastian is younger than them.

Genie Webster. I didn’t get a clear enough visual of her the other night, but in broad daylight, I caught some of the finer details. Her hair is cut to her chin with loose waves, streaked strawberry blond and hot chocolate brown. Her dark, expressive eyes are a richer color than her hair. Her smile is still the same. Bright and vibrant.

“Anyway, sorry again about the mess.”

Sebastian shrugs. “It happens.”

“Really? Women toss drinks in guys’ faces every day around here?”

Sebastian snorts and lifts the mop to wring out the wetness. “People break up.”

We stare at one another a second. Our family doesn’t hold a strong belief in romantic love; as in, many of us don’t think we’ll experience it. Stone, our eldest brother, however, has been adamant we all deserve the powerful emotion, and love will happen in different forms for different people.